The One Where Phoebe Meets Monica
by Stephanie C
Summary: The timeframe is July 1990.Phoebe is looking to move out of her current living space and Monica is looking for a roomate. Be sure to read part one of the series TOW Monica Moves to the City.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: This is my second fan fiction in a series of 6 FRIENDS prequels. The timeframe is July 1990. Monica moved into her grandmother's apartment two months ago. She has graduated culinary school and is working full time. Phoebe is looking to move out of her current living space and Monica is looking for a roommate._

_I do not own Friends; I'm just a huge fan._

The One Where Phoebe Meets Monica

It's a hot, breezy day in New York City. Phoebe is in Union Square playing her guitar and singing her original songs. Her guitar case lied open on the ground so passersby could drop money in. It was lunch hour on a Friday afternoon and Phoebe has already made $30 in two hours. She paid her way through massage classes by playing guitar on the streets, bartending and reading tealeaves at _Madame Sahara's Psychic Readings, Bar and Grill._

Next week will be Phoebe's masseuse licensing exam, after which she can work in any massage parlor she wants in any of the five boroughs of New York.

Phoebe was only going to play through lunch since she had a class at two.

_"I'm standing at the bar, serving drinks_

_Billy orders a round and is wearing a mink._

_He says he had a hard day,_

_His wife left him for a novelist_

_And I said 'No way!'"_

The wind blew Phoebe's long wavy blonde hair in her face. She looked up at the clock in the square and it said five to two. A man dropped a dollar in her case. She thanked him, quickly packed up her guitar and ran to catch the L train to 8th Avenue.

Monica and Chandler were in Monica's new apartment sitting on the sofa, watching TV and eating ice cream sundaes. This was their weekly Friday afternoon ritual. Chandler would come straight from his morning class to Monica's place. Monica would spend her morning cleaning and preparing an afternoon snack for her and Chandler. Monica worked the night shift at _Iridium_. After an afternoon of hanging out, Chandler would walk Monica to work before going to meet Ross at the bar that would one day become Central Perk.

"I need to find a roommate," said Monica.

"I could move in, but we'll have to flip a coin to see which one of us has to break it to Ross," Chandler jokingly responded.

Monica smiled, "Ha-ha, very funny."

"Why do you need a roommate?"

"I need some help with the rent and utilities, plus it would be nice to have someone around.

"You can put and ad in the papers and I could hand out some fliers around school for you."

"Thanks," Monica smiled, "I get paid tonight so this weekend I'll work on ad."

It was very humid and raining like cats and dogs. Phoebe came running into work closing her umbrella and taking off her bright, shiny, pokadot raincoat. It was only her second day at the message parlor. She passed her exams and is now a licensed masseuse. Jasmine, Phoebe's friend from class helped her find a job. Phoebe was so glad she didn't have to bartend and read tealeaves anymore. It was fun for a while, but not the life she imagined for herself when she was living on the streets. Now all she needed to do was move out of that smelly, cockroach infested shoebox apartment above Madame Sahara's bar.

Phoebe walked up to Jasmine who was at the reception area reading the paper. "What's wrong, Phoebe?"

"Ugh, I have to move out of that place. The noise from the bar keeps me up all night. I almost missed my stop on the train because I fell asleep."

"Oh no. That would not have been good on your second day."

"I know. Thank God my friend, Willie, from the streets licked my neck."

Jasmine handed over a section of the paper, "Well here are the apartment listings."

"Thanks, Jas."

"The apartment ad sounds great, Mon," Chandler said as he put the paper down and picked up his beer. Chandler and Monica were out on the balcony barbequing burgers, hot dogs and corn on the cob. Monica flipped a burger and screeched, "I know!" As she flipped the burger with so much enthusiasm it flew over the balcony to the street level. A passerby who was a pizza deliveryman intercepted the burger. The burger landed on the pizza box and nearly scared him half to death. He looked up but didn't see where it came from. He then thought it was a gift from the heavens since he was very hungry and couldn't eat the pizza he was delivering. He smiled and kept on walking hoping a bun and some ketchup would fall out of the sky too.

Meanwhile, up on the balcony Monica and Chandler watched the pizza guy walk away with the burger. Monica looked at Chandler and said, "Oops. Guess I better put another one on the grill before Ross and Carol get here."

"So how's the roommate search going?"

"Okay, I guess. One asked if she could bring her pet ferret. Someone else has a bottle cap collection of over 10,000, and is also an exotic dancer. One girl seemed pretty cool; she's a librarian who loves to clean!"

Chandler groaned, "Oh no does that mean you're not going to pick the bottle cap collecting exotic dancer?" Chandler was only joking of course. He knew he wouldn't have a chance with an exotic dancer, even if she were a bit eccentric with her strange hobby.

Monica flipped the burgers more carefully this time. "No, I am not. I still have a few more people to meet. I want to live with someone who's fun and won't drive me crazy, someone I could be friends with."

"Well who doesn't want that, but that's incredibly hard to find."

"What are you talking about? You and Ross are great roommates."

"Yeah, but I still want to throw his humidifier out the window," Chandler said while thrusting his arms like he was actually throwing it out a window.

Just then the intercom buzzed. "Speak of the devil, that's Ross and Carol now." Monica crawled through the window to buzz them up.

Phoebe was sitting in a beanbag chair and trying to listen to the TV above the noise from the bar downstairs. It was hard to relax after a long day at work. Phoebe hardly heard the pizza delivery guy knock on her door. Phoebe answered the door and saw a cute Italian carrying her pizza in one hand and a burger in his other. "One vegetarian pie and do you have a bun for this?"

Phoebe took her pizza and said, "Yeah, sure. Hold on."

Phoebe got a bun, sliced a tomato and some lettuce and toped off the burger with some ketchup. She handed it to the cute pizza guy on paper plate along with what she owed him for the pizza. "Mmm, this is good. Thanks!" Then he turned and left. Phoebe stuck her head out the door and yelled, "You're welcome!"

She then sat back on the beanbag chair with her pizza and the paper. As she skimmed the possible ads she circled she suddenly saw a great one she missed on Bedford and Grove. She called the number.

"Hello?" Monica answered.

"Hi, this is Phoebe Buffay. I'm calling about the apartment."


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Here is the conclusion of this story. Thank you for the reviews and please review on this chapter. I don't speak French but I tried to translate Monica's poster as best as I could. I also borrowed a line from Casablanca._

The next day Phoebe went over to meet Monica and check out the apartment. Phoebe found apartment number 20 and knocked on the door. Monica opened the door.

"Hi, Monica? I'm Phoebe."

"Come on in." Monica moved aside and closed the door after Phoebe. Monica saw she had a guitar case with her. Phoebe was hoping things would get musical.

"Wow, this is a great place. I definitely feel a positive energy here." Phoebe was looking around and waving her arms all about.

"Uh. Thanks. Can I get you something to drink? Water? Coffee? Tea?"

"Sure, I'll have some tea."

"Ok. Well make yourself comfortable."

Phoebe sat on the sofa. Monica got the water going on the stove and prepared two cups with tea bags. "So tell me about yourself."

"I'm originally from upstate New York. I've lived in the city since I was fourteen, after my mom killed herself and my step dad was back in prison. I lived on the streets till I was 18 and got a job bartending at _Madame Sahara's_."

"Wow that sounds like a tough life."

"Yea, but I am a survivor and living on the streets certainly taught me a lot of things. Now I am a full time masseuse and on the side I write and perform songs. Wanna hear one?" Phoebe picked up her guitar and set it in her lap.

"Sure," Monica kind of got the feeling it would be a kooky song.

"_The pizza boy was carrying a burger,_

_He asked me for a bun._

_I was surprised I even had one."_

"That's all I have so far. I was writing it on the way over."

"Sounded good." Monica was surprised she actually liked it.

There was an awkward silence. Thank goodness the teakettle started to whistle. Monica went to pour the tea and bring it over with some of her homemade cookies.

"So tell me about yourself."

Monica put the tray down, "I'm from Long Island. This used to be my Nana's place. I've lived here for three months. I'm a chef at _Iridium _."

Monica and Phoebe continued to talk about the apartment, the neighborhood and such. They ended their apartment tour on the balcony where they finished their tea. Phoebe read Monica's tealeaves, which had a positive, promising reading that said she would make a new friend very soon. Phoebe left with the feeling it went well. Monica still wasn't sure. Phoebe seemed too kooky. She wasn't sure how well they would get along in the long run and she wanted a roommate who would live with her for a long time. She didn't want to go through this search process again anytime soon.

"So how's the roommate search going?" Ross asked taking a bite of lasagna.

"Not well. I still don't have a roommate." Monica passed a plate of lasagna to Carol. Chandler came in from the balcony after smoking a cigarette. His friends have been trying to get him to kick that nasty habit for years.

Carol spread some graded cheese over plate and asked, "What about that girl you met with yesterday?"

"Phoebe? She seemed cool. She's like a modern hippy and she is a surprisingly happy person for someone who had such a hard life. She kept coming up with songs about the apartment, and the pizza boy, and the gum she stepped in on the way over."

Ross was thinking about his days coming up with songs on his keyboard, "So she makes up strange songs. She's probably really creative. She sounds like the best possible roommate so far."

"Yea, but, I don't want her to make up a song about everything around her, like me taking bubble baths or," Monica paused to think, "my phone pen."

Chandler chimed in to make a joke, "I'd like to hear a song about a _phone pen_."

Ross and Carol laughed and after a few seconds Monica did too.

Two weeks later Phoebe and Monica ran into each other at a poster shop. Monica was looking for a poster to hang over her television. Phoebe was just walking in the neighborhood and stepped in to take a look around. Monica was at the back of the store flipping through stacks of Art Nouveau posters. Phoebe was walking around the store, not looking for anything in particular. As she made her way to the back of the store she saw Monica and started to walk over to her. Monica pulled out a really cool poster by Jules Cheret that said:

_Aux Buttes Chaumont_

_Jouets_

_et_

_Objets pour Etrennes_

Phoebe came up to Monica and said, "That's a really cool poster. You should defiantly get it."

"I know. I really like it and think it would look great over-"

"-the TV" Monica and Phoebe said together. They smiled at each other.

"You know I speak French," Phoebe said. "It says 'On the hills of Chaumont toys and things for New Year's gifts.'" Monica nodded in amazement.

"So did you find a roommate yet?" Phoebe really wanted to be Monica's roommate and get out of her stinking apartment. She felt the interview went well and told Jasmine and Madame Sahara that her chances looked good. Phoebe had played some of her best songs to break the ice and win Monica over. However, after over a week of not hearing an answer she wasn't so confident.

"Actually not yet." Monica was hoping she wouldn't ask but knew that that was impossible.

"Oh 'cause, I think if we lived together it would be really fun. You seem like a really cool person and your mint chocolate chip cookies were the best I ever had." Phoebe was hoping this meeting would change Monica's mind.

"Really? Thanks!" Monica loved hearing complements on her cooking.

Phoebe continued to point out, "Yea, and I think we would get along great. We obviously have the same taste in art and both thought I would look great over the TV. And I don't think it's a coincidence that we bumped into each other here today."

"Maybe you're right." Monica thought about it. She was certainly the best candidate she's met so far and who knows, she might even grow to love Phoebe's kooky songs. "You know what? If you are still interested in moving in I'd really like for you to be my roommate."

Phoebe's face broke out into a huge grin, "Really? I would love that. Thank you!" She hugged Monica with much excitement and startled her a bit.

"You can move in this weekend." Monica knew she made the right choice. On some level they both knew this was the start of beautiful friendship.


End file.
